Ok. I'll get this off my chest. So this is for those who are still in the querying trenches. Story time! So. The very last time I cried about getting rejected... #ShareYourRejections
...was actually for a contest. I didn't win Tu Book's New Vision Award. It was the first contest specifically for diverse sci-fi/fantasy middle grade or YA. I was doing an MFA & I was exhausted. I mean, sick & tired of the whole querying process.
*Some* agents can be downright disrespectful & dismissive. I was ready to call it quits & go for a PhD & become a ruthless kidlit activist & scholar. But winning that contest would be a straight shot toward publication. I didn't care about $. I needed to get through the door!
I was a finalist. One step closer. I just knew I had it in the bag simply because I was tired. No one could've been as tired as I was. I'd been querying for 5 years! This was my moment. But. I didn't win. And I bawled out of pure exhaustion.
I loathed the querying process, the hobnobbing at literary events, the smooching, the waiting, the anticipation. Ugh! (I'd been working with a black agent for two years without her ever making an offer!)
I really didn't want to go back & re-query those same agents even if they'd asked to see more or wrote kind rejections. I felt *rejected*. But, but...
An agent contacted me after learning that I was finalist for the contest. She reached out to me! ME!. I didn't have to query! At that point, I had so much work to send her. I mean, it was an avalanche. It still is! Hi @joanpaq!
Long twitter thread short, just when you think you've hit a wall, then BAM! Breakthrough! Keep going writer! 😊 #ShareYourRejections
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